


Hearts of Gold

by Sherlocksbeehive



Category: Supernatural
Genre: Ableism, Amputee Castiel (Supernatural), Big Brother Gabriel, Friends to Lovers, Implied/Referenced Homophobia, M/M, Olympian Dean, Olympic Coach Bobby, Paralympian Castiel, briefly
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-18
Updated: 2017-12-18
Packaged: 2019-02-16 10:27:48
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,193
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13052151
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Sherlocksbeehive/pseuds/Sherlocksbeehive
Summary: After an accident at bible camp, a ten year old Castiel tells his very religious parents a secret while he is on pain medication. They do not react well and sign custody of him to his twenty year old brother even before his surgery, this leads him to making a new family and finding a new dream.





	Hearts of Gold

Castiel liked talking to Balthazar. He understood and he knew a little more than Castiel about everything. Balthazar said that he wasn’t going to go to hell for liking boys because God made him that way so his parents were wrong. And Balthazar said that he liked him too!

 

One night, at bible camp, they were all alone by the lake and they kissed and Cas really liked that and he couldn’t get if off his mind for the next few days. Then the accident happened.

 

Cas was reading in his top bunk in the rickety old cabin. The other boys were wrestling below him so he didn’t see what happened, all he saw was the roof collapsing on him.

 

* * *

 

His drug addled ten year old brain decided it was a good idea to tell his parents all about how Balthazar said he wasn’t going to hell and how he really liked kissing.

 

Both of their mouths made hard lines and they got up and left the room. They had a very brief conversation before they walked out to the waiting room to tell their twenty year old son, Gabriel, that they would be giving up custody of his baby brother.

 

Gabriel shook his head “No, you can’t just give him up to the state. You can’t be that awful to completely disown your son because he kissed a boy once.”

 

“I am afraid that since he has turned his back on God we can no longer accept him as our family.” Zechariah said firmly.

 

“Alright, sign him over to me.”

 

It was decided after a heated argument that they would give Gabriel full custody of Castiel and they would disown them both.

 

As soon as the papers were signed Gabriel called his boss and friend Ellen in tears. “Cassie and I don’t have a family any more.”

 

“Oh honey, why do you say that?”

 

Gabriel explained everything. “Ellen, they think they will have to take the foot and part of the leg. How the hell am I supposed to tell him?”

 

“Tell him in simple terms, no matter how smart he is she is young and scared and drugged up and anything too complicated will scare him. Tell him that no matter what you love him and you have people who love you both.”

 

Gabe took a deep breath and then another worry hit him “Oh god, Ellen, where the hell are we going to live? I live in a dorm and I work as a bartender and a cook. I’m going to have to dropout of school so he can have a roof over his head and food to eat, let alone the medical costs.” he was starting to panic.

 

“Gabe, Gabriel. Three slow breaths for me.” She waited until she heard him do the first one. “There you go. That’s it. Now, you are right, he can’t live in the dorm, so you two are going to come live with us, that way you won’t have to worry about the roof over your head or the food in the fridge.”

 

“What? Oh god, thank you so much Ellen. You’ve just saved us.”

 

“You are also going to stay in school.”

 

“Ellen, I don’t know if I can afford that.”

 

“We will figure it all out. When he is let out of the hospital and we get you settled we will figure out the money situation and Bobby and I will help with the medical costs if you need it but we will cross that bridge when we get to it.”

 

Gabe took a deep breath and nodded “Okay, okay. Thank you.” He wiped away a couple tears and sniffed.

 

“Go be with your brother and keep me updated. Let me know if you need anything.”

 

“Alright, I will. I’ll talk to you later Ellen.”

 

“Bye honey.”

 

* * *

 

The surgery was scheduled for the next morning and Gabriel did his best to keep his brother’s mind off of it while he was awake. “Hey buddy, how about we watch some TV?”

 

He smiled “really?”

 

Gabe nodded and tried to hide how angry he was with his parents for controlling his brother’s entertainment so much. “Yeah,” He checked the time “Let’s see, it’s prime time so there are probably some sitcoms on right now. I think you will find them really funny, especially with all those drugs pumping through your blood.”

  


Gabe slept in the chair beside him all night and then sat beside him until he woke up after the surgery. “Hey buddy, welcome back.”

 

“My leg’s gone now?” Cas asked sleepily

 

His older brother smiled softly, “Just the foot and a couple inches, nothing we can’t handle.”

 

Cas nodded a little and went back to sleep.

 

Gabe texted Ellen to let her know that he woke up briefly and once the anesthetic wore off he would be more awake and would be allowed to eat.

 

“Okay, I will bring some breakfast for you both.”

 

Ellen came to the hospital about an hour later with some waffles with bacon and hash browns. She smiled kindly at Cas as she came into the room and he immediately felt at home with her. “So, our house it pretty full right now which might be a little overwhelming so we will try to introduce you to everyone slowly.”

 

He nodded a little “Okay.”

 

Gabe smiled and sat down “There two other kids in the house so you will have people to play with.”

 

He smiled at that and looked at Ellen for confirmation.

 

She nodded, “Yep, two other boys who are living with us, Sam and Dean. And Dean is your age.”

 

Cas frowned a little “Will he play with me though?”

 

“Yes I am sure he will and he can help you find things that you like.”

 

Cas grinned “Okay good.”

 

When they were done eating Ellen gathered the stuff up “I will be back this evening with some dinner and some muffins so you don’t have to wait for me for breakfast tomorrow. If you want I can bring Dean and Bobby or just one of them?”

 

Gabe nodded “That sounds great, how about just one at a time?”

 

“Okay, I will bring Dean and I will ask him if he has any comic books that he can bring for Cas.” she said her goodbyes and left.

 

Cas looked at Gabe with a confused face, “what are comic books?”

 

“They are little books that are like picture books but they aren’t for little kids.”

 

“Oh, okay.” He lay down to take another nap.

  


Gabe got some soup for them for lunch, even hospitals can’t mess up soup, and then they watched some cartoons on tv until Cas fell back to sleep.

 

The doctor came by that afternoon to make sure everything was going well and go over the plan.

 

Cas was going to stay at the hospital for a few days to make sure he doesn’t get an infection or any complications then he will meet with the physical therapist and talk about what they would do and they would go into detail about what the options are a bit more than basically just, prosthetic or no prosthetic.  

 

* * *

 

As the afternoon turned into evening Cas started to get excited to meet Dean and see what exactly a comic book is.

 

Ellen came in and Cas frowns a little because it looks like she is alone but then a boy comes in carrying a pile of things, that look like small magazines to Cas, that kept slipping onto the floor.

 

Ellen chuckled “I told you you could just grab a bag Dean.”

 

He smiled “They all got here didn’t they?”

 

She rolled her eyes with a smile and then looked at Gabe “I brought burgers and fries.” she put her bag down and began pulling three boxes out “Also, a few pieces of pie.” She then pulled out an envelope and handed it to Gabe “Ash and Jo pooled together their lunch rush tips to give to you and told me to tell you that for any of the days that you won’t be able to work because of him you can expect the same.”

 

“What? No, I can’t take their tips.” He held the envelope back to her.

 

She rolled her eyes, “It’s just the lunch tips, elleven to two. All the rest they are keeping. So don’t worry, take the money and put it to good use.”

 

Gabe sighed and nodded “okay, tell them thank you.”

 

“I will, now eat up and then I want you to run to your room and grab some clothes, I would have done it myself but I don’t have a key to your dorm. Get whatever else you will need as well because I doubt you will want to leave him again in the next few days.”

 

“Yes mam.”

 

Dean sat next to Cas while “the grownups talked” and smiled “Hi! I’m Dean.”

 

“I’m Castiel.” Cas smiled shyly.

 

“Ellen’s burgers are the best burgers ever!”

 

“Really?” Cas looked amazed at the idea that they were the best ever.

 

“Yeah, they taste sooooo good.”

 

“I can’t wait to try one.”

 

Dean put the comic books on the bed and Cas noticed that there was a book underneath it as well. “I brought you a bunch of my comic books and I also brought The Hobbit in case you don’t like the comics and wanted a real book to read.

 

Cas grinned “that was very nice of you Dean thank you. What are they about?”

 

“Well The Hobbit is about a little man who goes on an adventure with a bunch of dwarves and a wizard to kill and evil dragon who stole the dwarves home and aaaaallllllllll their gold.”

 

“Woooow, what about the comic books?”

 

“Okay, so I brought some different heros. First, there is Batman who is my favorite. He dresses all in black and has a bunch of stuff that looks like bats and then he fights a whole bunch of different super villains. Some of them aren’t so cool but I really like The Joker.” Dean was very excited to have someone knew to tell about the comic books. “And I have Spider man, he gets bit by a radioactive spider and then he gets super powers! Then, there is The Avengers which has a whole bunch of superheroes in them. Oh, and I also have Justice League, which also has a bunch of heroes but they are different heroes.”

 

Cas smiled and nodded “Those sound very interesting.”

 

“Yeah! They are super cool. In the Justice League there is this character called flash who is really cool and I almost like him as much as Batman. He is really really fast and I want to run as fast as him someday, and Bobby says that if I practice running a lot I might be able to do it, but even though he is a coach for some of the people who run in the olympics he says he won’t coach me yet but he will if I still want him too when I am fifteen.”

 

Cas nodded “maybe if I get a fake foot when my leg isn’t hurting we can run together and then when we turn fifteen he can coach us both.”

 

“Yeah that would be super cool!”

Gabe smiled “Okay Bucko, time to eat, you can’t get super powers if you don’t eat dinner.”

 

Cas giggled and let Gabe put the little table over his bed and looked in the box to see what a burger looked like. He squinted and tilted his head “How do I eat it?”

 

Gabe picked his up “like this.” and took a bite.

 

Cas followed his example and took a bite. His eyes widened in surprised joy. He quickly ate the entire burger, and then smiled at Ellen “I really like those.”

 

She laughed “Well, I will keep that in mind.”

 

When Gabe finished eating Ellen practically pushed him out of the door so that he would get the things he needed and take a quick shower.

 

Dean and Cas read the first Justice League comic which Cas decided was very enjoyable.

 

* * *

 

A few months later Cas had been in school for about two and a half weeks. It was an adjustment but at least he was in Dean’s class. He was given a tutor to help him keep up with the class and to help find the gaps that were there from his homeschooling. And he was making friends besides Dean which Gabriel was incredibly happy about. Their names were Garth and Eileen.

 

Garth was a sweet, gangly kid who like to make puppets and put on shows, and whose energy and personality really grew on everyone.

 

Though Gabriel was especially glad about Eileen. She had been in an accident when she was a baby that had left her deaf and missing her foot as well. It gave Cas an example not only of someone who was similar to him but also someone who was genuinely his friend.

 

They mostly talked to Eileen by her lip reading and filling in the gaps with writing it down, but she was also teaching them sign language.

 

Ellen almost burst into tears when Dean and Cas came to her and nervously asked if she could get them a sign language book so they could learn even more and talk to Eileen even better.

 

* * *

 

Gabe went to pick Cas and Dean up from school “Okay guys, it’s Tuesday so Cas has PT today but today is special so it’s up to you Cas if you want Dean to come.”

 

Cas nodded a little not remembering why it was special and then it hit him “They are going to measure my leg today and I get to pick a color!”

 

Gabriel nodded “that’s right, so, should I drop Dean off at home or do you want him to come with us?”

 

“I want him to come with us so he can help me pick the color.”

 

Dean grinned and nodded.

 

They all agreed that black would be the best because it would be like Batman, though Ellen was happy about it because it would go with everything, and Gabriel was happy about it because it was one of the cheaper colors.

 

* * *

 

For Cas’s twelfth birthday Gabriel and Bobby got him a blade because they knew he wanted to join cross country and track.

 

Cas beamed as soon as he put his properly fitted blade on and started walking around “It’s sooo bouncy! I am going to be so much faster now!”

 

Bobby nodded “Yeah you will kid, that foot has a hell of a lot more bounce than your other one. And we can’t have that slowing you down.”  


Cas attacked bobby with a hug. “Thank you so much.”

 

* * *

 

Cross country started the next week and while it took a while to adjust to running with the blade rather than his regular leg as soon as he figured it out he and Dean were the fastest not only in their class but also better than the best ones in seventh grade as well.

 

Cas, Dean, and Eileen were stretching as a cool down when some older kids started laughing.

 

“Hey look guys, it looks like the pirates are getting ready to storm the castle.”

 

Cas looked at Eileen with confusion and signed “but pirates don’t storm castles, pirates capture ships.”

 

She shrugged and signed back “their insults would work a lot better if they actually made them accurate.”

 

The signing just made the bullies angry since they couldn’t understand it, “Hey! Retards! Why don’t you talk normal huh?”

 

Alistair, the leader was walking over.

 

Cas raised his eyebrows and said “I believe you mean, ‘why don’t you speak normally,’ and I am quite sure you already know the answer to that question so we do not need to tell you.”

 

He growled and pushed Cas and all of his group surrounded the three sixth graders.

 

“You better watch yourself cripple.”

 

They began pushing them around and laughing as they called them more slurs and occasionally made more pirate jokes, though most of those jokes just distracted Cas from the other things they were saying because they didn’t make any sense.

 

Dean was having a hard time not fighting back. All he wanted to do was start swinging but he knew if he fought back he would get in trouble too and maybe Cas and Eileen would as well and then they wouldn’t be allowed to be on the team any more. So all he did was clench and unclench his fists by his side and try not to let himself get pushed into his friends too hard.

 

Soon the bullies managed to push them all down to the ground and began kicking.

 

Luckily the kicks only lasted a moment until the coach ran over with the assistant coach. The coach pulled the kids away and the assistant made a note on the attendance clip board of who was involved, even as the kids were running away. It was pretty easy to figure out who it was since every teach knew to watch out for the kids in Alistair’s group.

 

* * *

 

Dean and Cas just kept getting better throughout the cross country season, though where they really shined was in track when they started doing sprints.

 

Bobby tried to hide his glee at the first meet when he watched the two boys run.

 

They tied exactly for first in their age bracket for the hundred meters then Cas won the two hundred meters.

 

Eileen got fourth in her mile race and Garth was very happy with the distance he jumped in the long jump even though he didn’t place.

  


Three years later, Dean and Cas were fifteen and Bobby sat them down at the kitchen table.

 

“Alright boys, do you want to be really serious about running?”

 

They looked at each other with excitement and nodded.

 

Dean smiled, “Yeah Bobby, we really do.”

 

“Okay, well do you want me to be your coach or do you want me to show your times to some friends of mine?”

 

Cas shook his head “We want you to be our coach right now. We know you and at least have some idea of what to expect.”

 

“You boys know that I’m not going to be easy on you just because I have known you for so long right? I am going to treat you like all of my other athletes.”

 

“We wouldn’t want you to treat us any other way.”

 

Bobby nodded “Okay, good. I will get everything organized.”

  


A few months later Dean was staying at home while Cas had a one on one practice with Bobby one saturday.

 

Gabriel was in the kitchen with him and helping him make a small cake that was shaped like a gold medal and said “Will you, on your mark, get set, go to homecoming with me?” Gabe smiled as he slid the cake into the oven “Okay, let’s work on the fondant while that is cooking.” He began telling Dean how to make the marshmallow fondant. “Alright, good job, Deano, slowly add a little bit of the yellow food coloring until it looks gold. We might want to add a tiny bit of red to it too.”

 

“Why couldn’t we just buy the fondant? Isn’t that what normal people do?”

 

“Well, you are lucky because I live with you and I went to school for four years to become an incredibly skilled baker so I get to protect you from ever baking like a normal person.”

 

Dean smiled a little and rolled his eyes as he needed the fondant, “How does this look?”

 

“That looks good to me. Cover it while we make the frosting.” This time he colored the frosting that they set aside to do the lettering with so it wouldn’t ruin the consistency.

 

He mostly had Dean decorate the cake but he did do the lettering when he asked. “Is this what you were looking for Deano?”

 

“Yes! It’s perfect! Thank you so much!”

 

Gabe checked the time “Okay, we have fifteen minutes until they get home, let’s clean up, then you should change. I will show you how to get the food coloring out of your hands and then set the cake where you want it.”

 

Dean nodded and jumped into action, just managing to get everything ready moments before Cas and Bobby came in.

 

Cas smiled when he saw him and walked over. As he got closer he saw the cake and what was written on it and he began beaming and he has to admit he started tearing up a little. “I would love to go to homecoming with you!”

 

Dean smiled and hugged him.

 

Neither of them noticed Gabe and Ellen taking pictures of them until they pulled away and Ellen told them to stand behind the cake so she could get a picture of them with it.

 

Cas blushed but couldn’t stop grinning from ear to ear.

 

* * *

 

Two years later at the Junior World Para Athletics Championships, the commentator smiled as the camera went to Cas, “there is the rising star of the sprints at these championships, Castiel Novak. At just seventeen I think he is about to do something really special and honestly if he doesn’t make it to the Paralympics next years I will eat my hat.”

 

The other commentator nodded “You’re right, and when the able bodied Junior World Athletics Championships come up you should keep an eye on his friend, Dean Winchester, who trains with him, as he is just as good.”

 

Cas smiled and waved at the camera while also trying to keep himself focused on the race, the race which was the hundred meter final. He ran the weaknesses and strengths of his competitors and he knew Bobby and Dean were doing the same from their seats in the stands while Gabriel was dealing his nerves by eating an entire shopping bag of candy.

 

They got the signal to take their marks and then set. The gun went off and then just moments later it went again signaling that there had been a false start.

 

Cas was mostly sure that it wasn’t him but he still was a little nervous when he went back to his starting blocks. He managed to keep himself from displaying anything other than focus though, even when it was revealed that his biggest competition was the one getting disqualified.

 

The next time the start went smoothly.

 

For the whole race he kept his eyes forward, he didn’t see anyone in front or anyone to the side so he didn’t look back until he crossed the finish line to see how far ahead he was while he was trying to slow down. He grinned when he saw that he was at least ten steps ahead of the silver medal winner. He ran over to where Bobby, Dean, and Gabriel were and they were holding his flag for his victory lap.

 

Gabriel was crying with joy and leaned over and hugged him “I am so proud of you Cassie.”

 

Cas nodded and squeezed him tightly.

 

Next, it was Bobby’s turn and he patted him on his back and handed him the flag “You earned this boy. Enjoy it.”

 

He beamed “thank you Bobby.”

 

Dean was finally able to pull him into a kiss.

 

The first commentator chuckled, “Well Bill, I have a feeling that “friend” isn’t exactly the best description for what Dean Winchester is to Castiel Novak.”

 

Bill laughed “It appears that you are right, though to be fair to me friend is in the word that does fit best.”

 

Dean and Gabriel helped Cas get the flag around his back so he could hold it behind him as he ran around the track.

 

A few days later he managed to do it again in the two hundred meter race.

 

Castiel stood with Ellen, Bobby, and Sam down by the railing to cheer for Dean in his two hundred final. He felt like he might totally lose his voice just from the eleven seconds of yelling. He let out a whoop of joy when Dean crossed the finish line clearly in first.

 

Dean didn’t have as much as a distance between him and second but he was a few feet ahead so it was clear.

 

Cas happily pulled Dean into a kiss when he came over to them.

 

Dean grinned “Finally our shelves will match again.” He had already won his one hundred final as well.

 

* * *

 

The next year at the olympics, Dean got bronze in both of his races.

 

At the paralympics, Cas got bronze and silver.

 

* * *

 

Four years after their first Olympics they both made it again and Cas had been hired to help with the coverage of the able bodied olympics and Dean had been hired to help cover the Paralympics.

 

Eileen had actually made it to them as well which Cas was very excited about. Almost more than for himself and Dean.

 

She was running the 1600 meter race. She had been recruited by a Paralympic Coach her freshman year in college.

 

Cas settled into the commentary box for the one hundred meter final that Dean was running in. He tried to stop fidgeting, knew this was the one his boyfriend wanted to win so he was nervous for him. He and his fellow commentator. Bill, got the two minute warning so they got everything organized.

 

They started and gave the little bits of information about the other then Bill looks at Cas.

 

“Well, Dean is the only American in this final so maybe while we are waiting for the race you can tell us a bit about his training and what kind of headspace he is in today.”

 

“Well, I talked to him about an hour ago and he was pretty focused, he knows he is going to have some heavy competition but he knows that all he can do is put everything into this race and hope that is enough.”

 

“That’s good. So what is training like for him and you?”

 

Cas gave a quick summary of what they do in training and then it was time for the race.

 

Dean was neck and neck with Usain bolt for the last ten meters, everyone watching were on their feet and cheering. Just at the very end Dean got a few inches ahead and that was just enough to give him the gold medal.

 

Bill grinned “Well Castiel, I know you are just itching to run down there and give that man a hug but first I need your take.”

 

“Wow, you’re right, I do want to go down there. This is such a huge moment for him, he already won bronze in the two hundred but he has been so focused on this race all year. He had perfect form all throughout and was able to get that little extra kick right at the very end.”

 

“Alright. Thank you Castiel, now go to that boy.”

 

Cas took off his mic and ran down to the railing and hugged and kissed him when he finished his victory lap.

 

* * *

 

Cas was walking in the opening ceremony next to Eileen.

 

She saw the camera go on them and grinned mischievously, she nudged Cas so she could sign, “I bet Dean is talking about how our uniforms make your eyes stand out.”

 

Cas blushed and rolled his eyes.

 

Dean caught the signing and laughed “For anyone wondering what my dear friend Eileen Leahy just signed to my boyfriend it was “I bet Dean is talking about how our uniforms make your eyes stand out,” and while that obviously wasn’t what I was talking about she is right that they make his eyes stand out.”

 

Bill laughed and then they continued on talking about the other things on screen.

 

Almost a week later Cas got a bronze in his two hundred but he was about to run his one hundred final.

 

He jumped a few times in place and shook his arms out to keep his muscles loose while he was in the box.

 

Dean smiled when he saw Cas blow a kiss to the camera, some of the people might think it was just to the crowd and the people watching but Dean knew that the kiss was for him.

 

The race went in slow motion for Cas, he felt himself stumble at the start but then he quickly found his footing and move to the front of the race by the end he was a few feet in front of Johnny Peacock.

 

He grinned when he saw Dean use the railing to literally jump over a kid so he could meet him down at the railing with Bobby and Gabriel. He jogged over to his brother and coach waving at the crowd as he did.

 

 

* * *

 

 

Cas was giddy during the medal ceremony, he was barely able to stay still since he was so excited. After the ceremony he went to where he would be interview and he giggled a little to himself as a release of the energy when he saw Dean was going to interview him.

 

Dean smiled as Cas walked over and then started the interview when he heard Bill throw it to him from the box. “Thank you Bill. I am here with Castiel Novak after his medal ceremony which we just saw.” He turned to Cas, “So, I may be a little biased but I think it is fair to say you did well today.”

 

He chuckled and nodded, “Yes, I think that is fair.”

 

“So, what was going through your mind before the race?”

 

“Oh, um, like I normally do I was going through my fellow athletes strengths and weaknesses and how I can get the upper hand on them.”

 

“You had a bit of a trip when you came out of the box, why?”

 

“Well, my foot slipped a little on the block but I was able to recover quickly and that is what matters.”

 

“Very true. How are you feeling now?”

 

“Still very excited and like my whole body is vibrating. These past few weeks have been the best of my life.”

 

The cameraman smoothly took the microphone and held it in place as Dean got down on one knee. In fact they had practiced that about ten times and specifically framed the shot so Dean would still be within the frame.

 

Dean pulled a small box out of his pocket “Can I make it even better? Will you marry me Cas?”

 

Cas put a hand over his mouth when Dean went down on his knee and nodded. He took the hand away and nodded more “Yes! Yes Dean!”

 

Dean grinned and put the ring on his finger. It was a simple gold band that had a small heart cut out of it.

 

Cas hugged him and kissed him quickly.

 

There were cheers from all around them.

 

Cas pulled away and laughed “what would you have done if I hadn’t medaled?”

 

“I’ll tell you later.” Dean smiled.

**Author's Note:**

> Come talk to me on tumblr @sherlocksbeehiveblogs.


End file.
